BASEBALL-LESS SUMMER
Rehabbing shortstop discusses his return, Carlos Santana, Elly De La Cruz and the silver lining to his broken ankle.
There’s obviously nothing good about Oneil Cruz missing all but nine games of the 2023 season. The incredible power, freakish range and rocket-armed throws are gone, mustwatch TV around Major League Baseball on hold.
The Pirates have undoubtedly felt the loss of their 6-foot-7 shortstop due to a fractured left ankle. Not having his bat atop the lineup has created a merry-go-round of leadoff hitters, while there’s been a noticeable power outage. Seeing Cruz back around the team in Milwaukee, it reminded me how much his ear-to-ear smile and jovial personality has been missed.
At the same time, while Pirates coaches, players are fans alike are surely counting down the days until Cruz returns, there has been one benefit here, albeit one he hopes doesn’t occur again for a long time.
Cruz has been able to soak up a bunch of family time with his wife and two young kids.
“It has been really nice,” Cruz told me this week, with major league coach Stephen Morales translating. “This is the first year for them [in the United States] with me. I appreciate getting to be around them, see them grow and spend more time with them.”
Cruz said two of their favorite activities to do as a family are watching movies and playing video games — specifically car racing and baseball. I joked with Cruz that his kids better be using their dad in “MLB: The Show.”
“They’re on their way there,”
Cruz said, again smiling and laughing.
So is Cruz, it seems.
He’s around the team regularly, taking grounds balls on the field and hitting in the cage. He recently started a running progression. Due to his prodigious power, and how much everyone has missed it, the first time Cruz hits on the field should attract an audience.
Missing so much time has obviously been tough on Cruz, who eyed a 30-30 or 40-40 season in spring training — and nobody batted an eye. Had he stayed healthy, I absolutely believe Cruz could’ve done it.
There’s so much star power to Cruz’s game, and we started to see defensive improvement during spring training. Also against lefthanded pitching and how he handles spin. Then, the injury.
Another sign of his eagerness: Cruz has been trying to learn as much as possible by watching games — the nuance at shortstop, pitchers’ attack plans, team strategy, that sort of stuff. Anything that might help him down the road.
“Even when you’re not playing,” Cruz said, “you can still learn something.”
The trip to Milwaukee gave Cruz another opportunity to learn, this time from Carlos Santana. It’s obvious and really neat to see how much Cruz looks up to Santana. They’ll train together this offseason, and Cruz spent all of Brewers batting practice at American Family Field peppering Santana with questions.
“It means a lot,” Cruz said. “It’s always nice to see Carlos. Sad that we’re not going to have him here for the rest of the season, but that’s the way it goes.
“Any time I see him, I ask him a lot of questions because I want to continue to learn from him and his time in the big leagues.”
A return for Santana makes sense for a variety of reasons, but the biggest one — literally and figuratively — is Cruz. There’s still so much Santana can teach Cruz, along with a bunch of the Pirates’ other younger players.
“It’s been a challenge for Oneil because he’s been dealing with an injury,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Having someone like Carlos there to help that maturation process was really important.” As they work out together this winter, might Cruz talk Santana into considering a Pittsburgh return?
“For sure,” Cruz said. “I’ll try my best.”
That’s down the road. In the immediate future, it will be great to have Cruz back so we can all enjoy Oneil Cruz vs. Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz, a battle of gigantic, electric shortstops, incredible players who should produce plenty of fun in the NL Central for years to come.
This weekend should be the last Pirates-Reds matchup without a Cruz clash.
Cruz said he knows De La Cruz a little from their winter ball team, the Tigres del Licey back in the Dominican Republic, although Cruz said De La Cruz was finishing up his winter season whenever the Pirates shortstop arrived.
Still, Cruz looks forward to getting to know De La Cruz better and also competing against him a bunch every season.
“It’s gonna be exciting to play each other,” Cruz said. “He’s a great player. I’m a pretty good player, too. It’s gonna be fun for everyone to see both of us on the field and performing.”